Posted on 07/18/2005 6:58:38 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (AP) - State officials revived California's medical marijuana identification card program Monday, saying state employees weren't violating federal law by issuing pot ID cards.
"The state attorney general has reviewed this concern and said that California can issue ID cards to medical marijuana users without state employees facing prosecution for assisting in the commission of a federal crime," state Health Director Sandra Shewry said in a statement.
Shewry's office shuttered the pilot program 10 days ago, citing concerns over a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Last month, the court ruled that people who smoke marijuana because their doctors recommend it to ease pain or other conditions can be prosecuted for violating federal drug laws.
The ruling did not strike down laws in California and nine other states that permit medical cannabis use, but said federal drug laws take precedence.
In a legal review sought by Shewry, Attorney General Bill Lockyer said that employees issuing the IDs could not be prosecuted for aiding or abetting the violation of a crime.
Lockyer's office also said that the information collected from applicants could be obtained by federal authorities and used to identify and prosecute medical marijuana users.
Health department spokesman Ken August said he was not aware of federal agents requesting such information.
Shewry said a new program application would state clearly that information submitted could be turned over to federal authorities and that possession of marijuana remains a federal crime.
The 123 people who already have been issued the IDs will be also be contacted, August said.
Complying with a state mandate that lawmakers passed after California voters approved a medical marijuana law in 1996, the state Health Department in May launched the pilot pot card program in Amador, Del Norte and Mendocino counties.
One purpose of the cards is to give medical pot users a way to show they have a legitimate reason for possessing pot if they are stopped by law enforcement.
The pilot program will is scheduled to be complete by the end of the month and expand statewide on Aug. 1.
California, once again, a GReen state.
Uh hmm. If a few of them get arrested and convicted in Federal Court, they might see things differently
A word of advice to tokers - do not draw the 'going up the river' card.
Re: "A word of advice to tokers "-(snip)
The issue of marijuana use being allowed at the state level is completely legitimate and can be defended from the 10th amendment provisions.
I'm with California on this one. Let's see the federosaurus try to wriggle out of the public relations nightmare it would create dragging the first batch of cancer patients off to prison. This would be one opportunity for Hollywood to actually do some good.
Time to put an end to this bull$hit -- these flagrant violations of the Supremacy Clause have gone on long enough.
Activate the California National Guard and arrest those public officials who violated their oath of office to honor and defend the U.S. Constitution and charge them with sedition, if not treason.
The other nine states will get the message.
Arizona issues marijuana tax stamps. I think that was due to one of the legalization votes a few years back. It's still not legal to smoke dope though.
Time to put an end to this bull$hit -- these flagrant violations of the Supremacy Clause have gone on long enough.
Activate the California National Guard and arrest those public officials who violated their oath of office to honor and defend the U.S. Constitution and charge them with sedition, if not treason.
The other nine states will get the message.
...with the exception of Arizona. We're armed.
Didn't work for Governor George Wallace, did it? AND, he had the full support of the citizens of Alabama who disagreed with that federal law.
STATE's RIGHTS! (sometimes)
headsonpikes, our resident "Anarchist Extraordinaire".
That's the attitude we're looking for! We can violate the U.S. Constitution because we're armed
Should be the Arizona State Motto -- it would look good on a license plate.
Your persistant enthusiasm for national uniformity, and your slobbering regard for what amounts to mere lawyering, as opposed to justice, betrays your real politics - the centrality and sovereignty of the state over human social life.
The greatest threat to American freedom is not alien Marxist Communism and Islamo-Fascism, but home-grown 'progressive and community-minded' folks who are absolutely certain they know how all Americans should live, and are willing to contort the plain language of the Constitution to have their way.
Our founding fathers had a paranoia about overly powerful federal government and voile- I think I'll smoke some of my medicine and meditate about this.
Peace
No, it can't. Anybody making that argument in Federal Court is gonna get slapped upside the head with a fistful of Gonzales v. Raich.
Nice rant. Might carry a bit more weight if the Supreme Court had struck down California's Medical Marijuana law as unconstitutional, but it did not. The Court let the law stand, only ruling that it was not a protection from Federal prosecution.
Careful, bobbyp'll tell you the fed can do what it wants because the Constitution bears no stated right to consume pot. You know he's got little time for the 9th Amendment and limited government.
The Constitution contains no stated right to bear children either but I'd bet ol' bobbo would crap bricks if the feds decided we need permission to procreate. I could be wrong though. He's pretty firm on limited rights and unlimited gov't.
Are you aware of any other situation where an activity is legal by state law but illegal at the federal level? I don't understand why/how the USSC can let this stand.
It is indeed a strange situation.
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